Dannielle Finlay-Jones was just 31-years-old when she was murdered at the hands of her new partner on their third date. <\/p>\n
Five other women had been raising the alarm over her killer, 33-year-old Ashley Gaddie, for over six years prior through various AVOs before his last act of senseless violence. <\/p>\n
But their voices were ignored until teacher\u2019s aide Ms Finlay-Jones was killed by Gaddie inside a friend\u2019s home in Cranebrook in Sydney\u2019s northwest in December 2022.<\/p>\n
They had met just eight days prior. <\/p>\n
The pair had been out to Christmas drinks the night before with Ms Finlay-Jones\u2019 friends, the first time they had met Gaddie, before they went home to a friend\u2019s house in Cranebrook in Sydney\u2019s northwest. <\/p>\n
The next morning, Ms Finlay-Jones was found deceased in her friend\u2019s spare bedroom, and Gaddie had fled the scene. <\/p>\n
Gaddie will never be held accountable for the act, after he died while in custody. <\/p>\n
Almost four years later, and a coronial inquest into her death was told Ms Finlay-Jones died at the hands of Gaddie, who unbeknown to her had a lengthy history of domestic violence. <\/p>\n
Two young teachers lost to DV<\/p>\n
Ms Finlay Jones\u2019 family and friends were present in court, with the presence of another heartbroken mother palpable. <\/p>\n
Sitting in the courtroom was Ms Finlay Jones\u2019 family friend and Lilie James\u2019 mother Peta, who has now attended two coronial inquests for young women in her life who were both killed in domestic violence attacks. <\/p>\n
Ms James, 21, was murdered less than a year after Ms Finlay-Jones inside St Andrew\u2019s Cathedral School in Sydney\u2019s CBD on October 25, 2023 by her ex- partner Paul Thijssen, 24. <\/p>\n
While to some it may seem like a chilling coincidence, the grief felt by Peta and Jacky for both young girls speaks to the growing epidemic in this country. <\/p>\n
Their deaths were no accident. <\/p>\n
At the end of the huge week-long inquest Ms Finlay-Jones\u2019 mother Jacky told NewsWire she hopes for urgent reforms to be made to protect more young women. <\/p>\n
Jacky spoke supported by her son Blake and sporting a \u201cBeauty and The Beast\u201d T-shirt in honour of her daughter\u2019s favourite movie. <\/p>\n
She said her daughter believed in the mantra: \u201cbeauty is found within\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has been an incredibly difficult and confronting week for our family,\u201d she told NewsWire.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe came to this inquest looking for answers about how Dannielle could have lost her life at the hands of a man with such an extensive history of violence against women. <\/p>\n
\u201cWell, we\u2019ve received some of these answers \u2026 but we leave this inquest with even more questions about how so many warning signs and opportunities could have been missed. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we have heard has been shocking. We\u2019ve heard evidence of multiple women, multiple ADVOS, and serious domestic violence offending. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve heard that Ashley Gaddie\u2019s risk of reoffending was incorrectly assessed. We have heard of missed opportunities and information that was not properly considered and failures to act when he was arrested again. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd yet, despite all of these warnings Dannielle met this man through a dating app without knowing any of it.\u201d <\/p>\n
Jacky said it\u2019s important to their family to help explore what more can be done in future to prevent further tragedies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have checks and safeguards in so many areas of our lives \u2026 we believe it\u2019s time to ask whether more should be done to protect people using dating apps, particularly where someone has a demonstrated history of serious violence against women.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf stronger safeguards had existed, would Dannielle ever have met Ashley Gaddie? We will never know.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cDannielle was only 31. She should still be here. Our hope now is that Dannielle\u2019s death will lead to changes that may save another woman\u2019s life. If that happens, that will be part of Dannielle\u2019s legacy. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe love her. We miss her every single day and we will never stop fighting for her.\u201d <\/p>\n
Jacky thanked the state coroner and counsel assisting and everyone involved in the inquest for the care and respect that has been shown to Dannielle and to their family throughout the process.<\/p>\n
Dannielle\u2019s lasting legacy<\/p>\n
Like so many domestic violence cases, the call for change is only occurring after a young life has already been taken. <\/p>\n
During an emotional tribute to her daughter during the inquest, Jacky read harrowing statistics, about the number of women that have been killed by their partner in the past four years while they have awaited the inquest. <\/p>\n
\u201cDannielle was the 60th woman across Australia that was killed in 2022 to domestic violence,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cBehind every one of those numbers is another broken mother, brother, sister and family. <\/p>\n
\u201cDannielle may appear to some as a statistic but she wasn\u2019t a statistic she was my daughter. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat still overwhelms me is discovering just how loved, respected and cherished she was to so many people.\u201d <\/p>\n
Ms Finlay-Jones was a young women \u201chitting her stride\u201d, the inquest was told and was devoting her life to educating young people in Sydney\u2019s south. <\/p>\n
Ms Finlay-Jones was a soccer player for Ramsgate RSL for 25 years and was a passionate captain and leader to her teammates.<\/p>\n
She was also working as a teacher\u2019s aide at a southern Sydney school where a memorial garden now sits in her memory. <\/p>\n
Horrific domestic violence history<\/p>\n
The inquest was told Ms Finlay-Jones died of a blunt force injury and pressure on the neck consistent with strangling. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe court would be comfortably satisfied that Ashley Gaddie inflicted those injuries,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Gaddie\u2019s fingerprints were found in the spare bedroom, with the fly screen also broken where it is believed the 33-year-old escaped.<\/p>\n
Ms Ward said the pair\u2019s relationship was still in its infancy at the time of the murder. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey had only met in person eight days before Dannielle\u2019s death,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
The inquest was told that Gaddie drank about 15 beers and took prescription Valium at the Christmas party before they went back to Ms Finlay-Jones\u2019 home where they stayed the night.<\/p>\n
The following morning, her friends found Ms Finlay-Jones in the spare bedroom.<\/p>\n
The inquest was told, there was no credible evidence that anyone other than Gaddie had contact with her after her friends closed the door to the spare bedroom and when she was found deceased.<\/p>\n
One thing that remains clear, however, is that Gaddie had a violent past that had been escalating over time.<\/p>\n
The 33-year-old and former tradesman had multiple previous convictions of domestic violence offences, as well as six AVOs taken out against him by five different women, between 2016 and 2022.<\/p>\n
He was convicted of five domestic violence offences including intentionally choke person without consent, damage property (DV), stalk or intimidate, common assault (DV), and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.<\/p>\n
He has also been previously charged over assaulting and intimidating police officers.<\/p>\n
At the time of Ms Finlay-Jones\u2019 death, Gaddie was serving a two-year community corrections order for the domestic violence offences, and had two current AVO\u2019s against him.<\/p>\n
He was also on bail at the time over a June 2022 incident involving a separate woman and had a history of cocaine abuse, as well as anabolic steroids and mental health concerns such as anxiety and depression.<\/p>\n
A flawed system<\/p>\n
The inquest highlighted several instances where Gaddie fell through the cracks of the system. <\/p>\n
Gaddie\u2019s risk had been \u201cmisscored\u201d during a sentencing assessment report for prior domestic violence offences, the inquest was told, which placed him at a \u201clow risk\u201d.<\/p>\n
NSW Community Corrections also missed an alert in 2022 when Gaddie re-entered their system and had again been charged by police that said his case should be reviewed when possible.<\/p>\n
The alert was \u201cclearly visible\u201d on screen when Gaddie was charged, the inquest was told, but \u201cnothing happened\u201d. <\/p>\n
By August the alert had disappeared \u201cas if it had never existed\u201d. <\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t until after Ms Finlay-Jones\u2019 death that it was discovered during a critical incident review, which then led to a statewide review that found a third of rearrest cases had not been appropriately followed up on. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn other words the closer correctives looked the more problems they found,\u201d Ms Ward said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was unknown to Dannielle \u2026 she had no reason to think the man she met online and took to Christmas drinks was a man who posed a risk to her,\u201d Ms Ward said.<\/p>\n
The matter is now set to be referred to the domestic violence death review team, with the inquest conceding that more needs to be done to stop people like Gaddie from using dating apps and putting \u201chundreds if not thousands of women in danger\u201d. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dannielle Finlay-Jones was just 31-years-old when she was murdered at the hands of her new partner on 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